Provisional Calendar & New Tyre Supplier For 2015!
At last, the provisional calendar for the 2015 Tillotson UK Formula Vee Championship has been announced:
Brands Hatch 25/26th April
Croft 23/24th May
Cadwell Park 20/21st June
Anglesey 18/19th July
Silverstone 22/23rd Aug
Snetterton 300 12/13th Sept
Donington Park GP 3/4th Oct
Out of those I’ve been to Donington on my bike, and possibly done Silverstone for my ARDS test (depending on whether it’s the International circuit, or not) – and those two are at the end of the year!
So I may have to claw some more testing budget from somewhere…
They’re all good tracks, though, and I’m already getting the first pangs of excitement. Brands and Croft will take me back to the old TOCA Touring Cars computer game that I spent many hours on as a young whipper-snapper!
I think the grids may struggle for the start of the season, though…
Not only are most being forced into spending around £500 on HANS kit to race this year, but the Dunlop tyres used since Vee began have been axed.
After several very hasty tests of alternatives, it has been decided to use Hoosier tyres going forward. This will mean everyone also has to shell out £490 +VAT for at least one set…
We were hoping that Class B cars would be allowed to use the Dunlops for this year – Glenn has “more than a few” sets that he’s collected over the years – but sadly this won’t happen. We’ll still use the Dunlops for testing, to try and get some use out of them.
The Hoosiers are supposed to be fairly close in lap times, but are ugly as sin! I personally don’t think ‘vintage’ looking tyres will help the image of Formula Vee, but some are using them now for the Australian series, and maybe it’s just my biker mentality playing up a bit. The look of the tread for bike tyres is very important for sales.
Having said that, it seems to be extremely hard to get a definite picture of the new tyres from anywhere. If they’re like the picture above, then they’re not so bad. If you heard drivers describing them at Donington in the cafe, you’d have far greater reservations.
Still, I’m sure when I’m in the car it won’t bother me, and we’ll soon get used to them!
I’d better keep buying those Lottery tickets.
EDIT:
Steve Bailey sent me a picture of the Hoosiers for UK Formula Vee:
A lot more tread than the current Dunlops, but I’m sure you’ll agree that they don’t look that bad at all! I’d much prefer them over the cut slicks that were the other option being discussed – at the very least these will actually work in the wet!
James Cater Racing 
Hola! I’ve been following your website for a long time now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and
give you a shout out from Porter Texas! Just wanted to say keep up the excellent work!
Hi there
First of all I love all your blogs you do
Any how my name is William and I’m a
Formula vee driver from Australia.
I am just wondering are you guys still
Using the Hoosier race tyre.as this year
We are using the Yokohama adr 08r
I strongly suggest you guys stay away
From radial tyres they are not worth
It.
When I raced on the Hoosiers they were not as good as the dunlops.
However at this point in time I miss the
Hoosiers.
Regards
William Pym
Thanks!
I did my first ever Vee test on the Dunlops, but as I couldn’t really drive the car back then don’t have much of a comparison, and have only used the Hoosiers since!
I didn’t like the look (tread pattern) at first, but don’t mind it now. I actually think they’re very good tyres. Nice and progressive, and it’s looking like mine will last 2 seasons (without testing), so not bad durability! Of course, as soon as the decision was made to use them, they bumped the price way up, so now we’re paying over £800 per set!
It’s said they’re 2 seconds a lap slower than the Dunlops in the dry, but have a much better tread for the wet – which is a huge consideration racing in the UK!
It’d be nice to have a sponsor buy a set for me for next year, though!
Love the Aussie Vee racing, too – looks like a pretty healthy championship over there like it is here!
Hi James thanks for your message
I also loved the Hoosiers however they were very pricey at 1400 dollars a set
The Yokohamas are 750 dollars a
Set.and from my point of view it’s
Not worth going for the cheaper
Tyres .
so in short the only advantage that the
New tyres have is the cost.
How long are you stuck with them for?
The alternative they nearly chose for us were some cut slicks – but they’d have been an absolute nightmare in the wet. I think they were cheaper, though.
It’s a shame Hoosier had to bump the price up and rip people off, as they’d have made huge profit gains with everyone using them anyway! I think it’s stopped a few more casual racers coming into the series for the odd round, as it’s just not worth them buying the tyres.
Hi James we are stuck on the yokohamas for 3 years.the biggest problem with the tyres is that they are taller wider and heavier than the Hoosiers by 3 kilograms per tyre.the direct result is more revs more things coming loose and slower lap times by up to 4 seconds per lap.